Saturday November 8, 2008
Nothing seems impossible for academic Dr Siva Kumar Balasundram and his colleagues, who between them, have set up TheMind (Malaysian Indian Educational Development) Association, an organisation of high academic achievers who are helping some Malaysian Indians achieve excellence and success through education.
They themselves had struggled to achieve high academic status and believe that with the right help, encouragement and motivation, other Indians too can achieve similar success through education.
“We believe educational attainment is the one sure path for Malaysian Indians to advancement in life and success,” said Dr Siva, 37, a senior lecturer at UPM and a specialist on precision agriculture.
A core group of about 20 high achievers are running TheMind, and they organise opportunity seminars, motivation forums, courses and seminars for Indians.
They also organise sessions with rural Indian youths to place them in training institutes after they have completed their SPM.
In addition, TheMind has set up an e-mail network of over 50,000 individuals who act as initiators or helpers, offering advice, job vacancies and other pointers to needy individuals, for instance, where to get loans, scholarships and jobs.
“It is like a help-line and it’s growing in size,” said association vice-president Dr Ganesan Vadamalai, 36, an agricultural scientist, referring to TheMind Bulletin Board.
In 2005, the group organised the 9th Malaysia Plan – Voices of the Grassroots, a joint programme with ERA Consumer that was supported by the Friedrich Nauman Foundation and the European Union.
In 2007, they organised the National Indian Youth Convention, which attracted widespread attention from Indian youths, teachers, professionals and business people hungry to develop themselves, network and succeed in life.
Among the speakers at this convention was Petra Group founder president and CEO Datuk Vinod Sekhar, whose late father Tan Sri B. C. Sekhar was a world-reknown rubber specialist.
A one-day seminar in Kulim in April this year saw TheMind enthusiasts like Dr Ganesan coming face-to-face with the myriad problems Indian youths face – poverty, low skills, low academic achievements, lack of scholarships and being sidelined from mainstream development.
“They were in the low information group, and did not have adequate information on how to seize the opportunities and advance themselves,” Dr Ganesan said, adding that 15 youths who had completed their SPM and were about to enter the job market as low-skilled employees were persuaded to study new skills at vocational institutes.
“They can get much higher wages with higher skills,” Dr Ganesan said, adding the TheMind intended to conduct more forums to place Indian youths in skills training centres.
“We want to make this a permanent feature of our activities because Indian enrolment in skills institutes is low.”
TheMind is a registered organisation and entirely voluntary, said Dr Siva.
“We could use more support and help. We also hope others set up similar voluntary organisations to show the way and motivate our people.”
TheMind started with one man, Saravanan Kandasamy, an electronic engineer with Maxis who sent out e-mails in 2004 to Indian professionals whose addresses he had collected after diligent research on the Internet.
“Saravanan argued that Indian professionals needed to get involved to help the community and not just take care of themselves,” Dr Siva said.
A meeting was held, attended by about 20 people and from that, a core group of five formed TheMind.
Saravanan runs its bulletin board from Porta City, Portugal, where he is studying for his PhD on a Portuguese government scholarship.
“Although he is far away, we keep in regular touch,” Dr Siva said.
TheMind’s latest initiative is “An Afternoon with Datuk Vinod Sekhar” at the UPM campus from 2pm today where the successful businessman appears as a role model for Indian youths.
He will be offering pointers, sharing ideas and taking questions on the subject of the challenges facing Indian youths today.
The event is sponsored by the Sekhar Foundation, which is chaired by Vinod who was impressed enough by TheMind to promise help and funding for the group’s initiatives.
TS
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